1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a building construction assembly, which provides a framing system for adjustably connecting building components and for strengthening structural wall components. By allowing for adjustable connection of these building components, the user will realize significant cost savings from using less labor and material for the same construction needs.
2. Description of Related Art
Prior to the present invention, walls were constructed with vertical studs secured to horizontal headers. When there was a need for an opening in a wall, such as the case with a door or windows, then considerable time, energy, and resources were devoted to creating the window or door opening to avoid the opening in the wall from compromising the structural integrity of the wall. For example, each window requires its own header running along the top edge of the window. The ends of the window header must be secured to adjacent vertical studs on each side of the window. In commercial construction, the window headers had to be secured to the studs with plates, straps, or brackets, which needed to be bolted and/or welded to both the horizontal and vertical pieces. In addition, brackets were formed when the ends of studs were cut and bent back in a “dog-eared” or “dovetailed” fashion. This extra work to cut, bolt, and weld these brackets added considerably to the construction time and the workload. In addition, the construction codes governing many commercial and public buildings require that studs be re-enforced at critical load points in the building by strapping, bracketing, and/or welding together multiple vertical studs. In many cases, the straps and/or brackets themselves must be welded to the studs to meet the government code requirements. Welding together multiple studs to increase the structural integrity of the wall is an extremely labor and material intensive activity that significantly adds to the cost of construction. The need for re-enforcing headers over door and window openings sometimes requires that multiple stud pieces and tracks be welded, bracketed, and/or strapped together in similar fashion to form the proper header. Further, the studs and tracks normally arrived at the construction site in oversize lengths, and the studs were usually cut to fit at the job site. Having to spend time and labor to cut these lengths to custom fit the particular application also increased construction costs.
As the result of the extra welding and strapping required by the re-enforcing of headers and studs, cosmetic problems were created because the above straps, welds, brackets, and plates connecting the studs and headers rose above the planar surface of the wall, which would create bulges in the wall board. To correct for this problem, additional labor and material was needed to tape and to plaster over these indentations on the surface of the wall. Hence, the prior art method was definitely in need of improvement.
The claimed invention avoids the above problems and provides a significant savings in material and labor costs. To provide similar or even improved structural support, less material is used in the claimed invention; for example, one framing clip system with its internal support member can replace up to 4 or 5 pieces of welded studs. In addition, valuable time and labor would not be wasted in welding and/or fastening these studs together. At the corner of frames, the claimed invention also avoids having to use large brackets, straps, or plates to connect a horizontal header to the vertical studs. By not having these brackets and plates jut out of the wall surface, labor and materials would not be needed to hide these wall imperfections. Further, because this invention allows for fine adjustment due to the frictional connection between the components of the invention, the users of this invention can have the studs and building pieces prefabricated and cut to the custom specifications of the project at the factory. As a result, instead of having to measure and cut the building studs at the work site, the user will simply make fine adjustments during assembly with the prefabricated pieces.
From the preceding descriptions, it is apparent that the devices currently being used have significant disadvantages. Thus, important aspects of the technology used in the field of invention remain amenable to useful refinement.